The news of me becoming a Blood Scent guild member spread throughout the entire student body in an instant.
“You joined Blood Scent? Yeon Ha Yeon seemed really eager for you to join, but you actually signed a contract? That’s amazing!”
Right after the break time bell rang, as I was about to go to the restroom, a classmate who often spoke provocatively in a quiet tone said something, following Nabi who had just congratulated me.
The reactions of my classmates were split like those two.
There was a group that genuinely congratulated me on joining Blood Scent, while another group focused solely on the fact that I wasn’t Nada.
Still, when I was sitting at my desk, the kids didn’t flock like this.
As soon as I left my seat and saw the classmates surrounding me, all I wanted was to go back to my desk, never mind the restroom.
‘This is going to be tiring for a while.’
My prediction was spot on.
Every break time, students curious about the new guild member who joined Blood Scent flocked to the classroom door.
Among them were quite a few female students who seemed to be there to see me, or perhaps using it as an excuse to see the Four Heavenly Kings.
Seeing my classmates inconvenienced by the crowded classroom door all morning, I felt genuinely sorry.
“You joined Blood Scent, didn’t you?”
Already tired from being jostled by people, Shin Se-na, whom I encountered at lunch, approached me with an arrogant expression, arms crossed.
I wondered if she would have approached me first if I had been alone.
Shin Se-na’s eyes kept glancing at the faces of the Four Heavenly Kings who were with me.
“That’s what happened.”
[Should I handle it?]
Ever since I taught Chae Yu-hwan a lesson, Sahin seemed to have found this enjoyable, asking as soon as my answer ended.
It seemed he was trying to imitate a ghost again, recalling the time I scared them in the incinerator.
[No, don’t step in before I say so.]
I calmed Sahin and looked at Shin Se-na standing in front of me.
There were many Awakeners who wanted to join Blood Scent, and Shin Se-na seemed to be one of them, showing signs of envy towards me.
“You shouldn’t forget about the principal’s office dungeon break, okay?”
Shin Se-na suddenly brought up an old incident.
After that, other than the school trip, I never sought out Shin Se-na first, but it seemed she wanted to maintain a connection with me.
This was evident from her bringing up how she had put herself on the line to save me from the monster.
“Right. Sena saved her, didn’t she?”
“She’s a lifesaver, of course, she shouldn’t forget!”
At the words of her friends supporting her from both sides, Shin Se-na shrugged her shoulders with an ‘I told you so’ expression.
Even if she hadn’t saved me, I wouldn’t have been harmed by the monster, but since it was true that she had put herself on the line, I readily nodded.
“Thanks for that time. I won’t forget, but I’ll go ahead.”
I tried to end the conversation, chasing after Yeon Ha Yeon and the Four Heavenly Kings, whom I had sent into the cafeteria first as soon as I encountered Shin Se-na.
“Really, don’t forget! I still have the scar from back then!”
Shin Se-na yelled at my back as I ran towards my friends.
“Scar? She’s a healer, isn’t she?”
“Her wounds would have been treated long ago.”
The students passing by perfectly pinpointed the part I found puzzling.
I vaguely made a circle with my finger behind me, then quickly entered the cafeteria.
Perhaps because I had an unexpected conversation with Shin Se-na in the cafeteria, old memories resurfaced.
‘Was it around this time? The place where a junior spilled lunch on me.’
I recalled the most vivid memory associated with the cafeteria.
It was the time Shin Se-na, who disliked me, tried to torment me through others without getting her own hands dirty.
‘She’s changed a lot.’
So much had changed since the beginning of my transmigration that I hadn’t paid much attention to Shin Se-na’s transformation.
I heard that these days, Shin Se-na was living quietly, unlike before, not bothering other students.
Since she wasn’t causing trouble, I naturally paid less attention, but it was quite a positive change.
As I was receiving my lunch, normally, unlike before, the Axe Man who used to escort me suddenly came to mind.
I never imagined I’d be kidnapped, then experience being kidnapped with gangster bodyguards; it still felt surreal that I had gone through such enormous events.
“Is that young man not coming these days? He ate so heartily, it was nice to see, a shame.”
The cafeteria lady, who occasionally asked about the Axe Man, served me soup with the same remark today.
After replying that he probably wouldn’t be coming anymore, I walked to where my friends were sitting.
“Hasn’t the school lunch gotten really good lately?”
“Right! I heard the nutritionist teacher awakened, and that’s why the lunch quality went up.”
“Really? Where did you hear that?” “I heard it from the kids!”
As Eun Ba-da brought up the topic of lunch, Han Ji-bin, as if she’d been waiting, told us the rumor about the nutritionist teacher.
Unlike us, who didn’t really talk to other kids, it was typical of Han Ji-bin, who had many friends, to have such information-gathering skills.
‘Now even the nutritionist teacher is awakening.’
So many Awakeners with diverse abilities keep appearing.
I was secretly even looking forward to what kind of Awakeners would appear next.
“What, are you a vacuum cleaner?”
Just then, Ban Eun-hyeol said something to Yeon Ha Yeon.
Yeon Ha Yeon was emptying her lunch tray at an astonishing speed.
“It’s exam period. I need to study.”
With just two words, Yeon Ha Yeon silenced Ban Eun-hyeol, quickly finished her remaining rice, and then got up first.
An English vocabulary book was in her hand.
“I’ll go first. See you in the classroom.”
Before I could even reply that I understood, Yeon Ha Yeon quickly walked away.
Seeing this, Eun Ba-da started eating faster than before, and soon after, got up with her lunch tray.
“Why is she like that again…?”
Ban Eun-hyeol muttered incredulously, looking at Eun Ba-da, who usually never ate lunch fast even during exam periods.
“Leave her be, maybe they got into a competition.”
I said, leisurely savoring the lunch that had become truly delicious lately.
Unlike them, I had absolutely no intention of using lunch break to study even a little more.
Even before transmigration, I wasn’t particularly fond of studying, so there was no way I’d study hard here.
“You should probably eat faster, though.”
“Aw, it’s okay to not be good at studying. Right, Dana?”
“You’re killing Dana twice over by saying that.”
My head felt dizzy as if I’d been hit on the back of the head by the successive attacks.
Ban Eun-hyeol, who was sneering with arms crossed and one corner of his mouth lifted, or Han Ji-bin, who was dropping truth bombs with a bright face, or Ji Gang-han, who just had to mention it…
“What about you guys, aren’t you studying?”
“If you just listen hard in class, your grades will be good.”
“You don’t listen well in class.”
“I… that was just an example. I’m smart, so I’m fine.”
Ban Eun-hyeol, who had nonchalantly thrown out an annoying remark, displayed a confident smile.
I casually ignored him and continued eating my lunch.
When I returned to the classroom, Yeon Ha Yeon was furiously buried in a workbook at her desk.
Her slightly furrowed brows showed how deeply she was concentrating on her studies.
The other students in the class didn’t even dare to properly talk loudly because of the fierce intensity of Yeon Ha Yeon and Eun Ba-da sitting next to her.
Seeing the classmates automatically go out into the hallway when it started to get a little noisy, I too instinctively quieted down.
‘I never knew exam period could be this scary.’
Was it because we’d be third-year high school students next year?
While Yeon Ha Yeon and Eun Ba-da were studying the hardest, quite a few other friends also seemed to be dedicated to their studies.
It seemed Yeon Ha Yeon felt relieved after I joined Blood Scent, as she put aside guild work and focused solely on studying from then on.
Yeon Hyeong-gwang was handling the guild work in her place.
I signed the contract and talked for a long time about how we’d work in the future, and now it’s suddenly exam period.
Thanks to that, far from doing dungeons with Yeon Ha Yeon, we hadn’t even properly discussed guild matters since the contract.
I remembered Yeon Ha Yeon’s father’s line about inheriting the company if she lived a normal school life, studied hard, and got into a good university.
She revealed herself as the Blood Scent Guild Master and lived a life far from normal, so I thought she was just focusing on the guild and studying out of habit, but it seemed she had no intention of giving up the company at all.
I awkwardly took out a workbook from my desk drawer and opened it.
“Look how clean it is. Anyone would think it’s a new book.”
Ban Eun-hyeol, who was sitting next to me, propping his chin with his hand and looking at his phone, picked a fight.
I immediately closed the workbook.
At the same time, Han Ji-bin, who was sitting in front, turned around, looked at us, and said,
“Who wants to go to the PC bang after school?! Me!”
Han Ji-bin, who had asked herself and raised her hand first, looked at me and Ban Eun-hyeol with sparkling eyes.
She didn’t even glance at Eun Ba-da and Yeon Ha Yeon, a clear sign she had given up on them early.
“Why would you go to a PC bang during exam period?”
“So you’re not going?”
“Of course, I am.”
Ban Eun-hyeol, who had just acted like a model student and chided me, immediately said he was going and looked at me.
I pointed at myself with a bewildered expression and asked,
“Me? Why aren’t you asking Ji Gang-han?”
I don’t enjoy games. I’d never been to a PC bang with them when we hung out, so I was puzzled why he skipped Ji Gang-han and asked me to go.
Then Han Ji-bin replied with an expression that said, ‘Why are you asking something so obvious?’
“Of course, I asked him first. We’re going together!”
“Ah.”
The time for deliberation wasn’t long.
As soon as homeroom ended, we immediately headed to a PC bang in the downtown area.
As we walked down the street, I could clearly feel eyes on us.
The Four Heavenly Kings, accustomed to such attention, simply walked with wide strides, hands in their pockets.
On the way to the PC bang, chatting about trivial daily things, Han Ji-bin playfully skipped ahead of us, then turned to face us and walked backward, asking,
“Anyway, it’ll be winter break after finals. What are you all going to do?”
The first to answer was Ban Eun-hyeol.
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